Paper-based charts have been used for decades to assist a pilot and/or other members of an aircrew with navigation of an aircraft. Paper-based charts (which also include PDF files depicting such charts) contain navigation procedures that an aircraft is required to follow at various stages throughout a flight. A procedure is a maneuver that an aircraft is required to undertake when it reaches a predetermined position. For example, a paper-based chart may include a depiction of a flight path together with annotations that indicate the course and the altitude that an aircraft is required to fly and maintain when approaching an airfield for landing. Another example would include the courses and altitude an aircraft may be required to fly and maintain while in a holding pattern above an airport when awaiting clearance to land.
Over the years, as aviation technologies have advanced, many new innovations have made their way into the cockpit. Several innovations have been introduced that facilitate the navigation of an aircraft. One such innovation is a moving map display system. Such systems are well known in the art and are commonly associated with an aircraft's navigation system. The moving map display system works in conjunction with a position detecting system (e.g., GPS) to depict a map or an emulation of the ground on a display screen in the cockpit of the aircraft. As the aircraft flies along its flight path, the map displayed on the display screen appears to move in a manner that corresponds with the current position and heading of the aircraft, to emulate the passage of terrain beneath the aircraft and to show the current position of the aircraft with respect to the terrain or map.
A recent innovation has been to display procedures from a paper-based chart on the moving map display. Such data driven charts (DDC) have a powerful ability to integrate chart information with aircraft position and flight management system (FMS) procedural routing. Data driven charts currently have the capability to graphically preview (all at once or individually) all procedures arriving into or departing from airports. These include departure, arrival, and instrument approach procedures. This reduces the workload on the pilot by eliminating the need to reference both the paper based chart and the moving map display. Additionally, this combined display eliminates the need for the pilot to mentally transpose the procedure onto the moving map display, thus reducing the pilot's level of task saturation. While combining the procedure from a paper-based chart with a moving map display is useful, there is room for improvement.
One limitation of such a system is the fact that the procedures that are illustrated on a paper-based chart (and, consequently depicted on a moving map display) are generic and do not reflect real-time conditions experienced by the aircraft, such as environmental conditions (e.g., altitude, wind speed, wind direction, etc.), geographic conditions (e.g., terrain, obstructions, etc.), or airspace conditions (e.g., air traffic congestion on departure, arrival, or en route procedures, temporary flight restrictions, etc.) that are experienced by the aircraft as it flies the procedure. Such environmental, geographic, and airspace conditions can have a substantial impact on the time, fuel, and operational cost required to fly the procedure. For example, a tail wind or a head wind may increase or diminish the distance that will actually be traveled by an aircraft when following the published procedure, thus increasing/decreasing the time, fuel, and operational cost required to fly the procedure. Such increased or diminished travel, however, would not be reflected by the procedure that is displayed on the moving map. Rather, the published procedure will remain static.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a system that can portray procedure-related information to pilots and/or other aircrew members in a manner that is reflective of real-time conditions of, or encountered by, the aircraft. In addition, it is desirable to provide a system that can compare the time, fuel, and operational cost to fly published procedures taking into account the real-time conditions. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.